


Force

by middlemarch



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: American Civil War, Empire Strikes Back, F/M, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7067437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How much and how little can be required.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Force

“Damn,” Mary exclaimed, and peered at her knuckles. Yes, she’d barked them hard enough to draw blood. Now she’d have to try and find a few smaller scraps of bandage to cover them for a few days. Nurse Hastings was sure to comment as evidently she had gone through the entire Crimean War without so much as a torn hem or broken fingernail. And the cabinet was still locked.

“You need a hand there?” Jed said from the doorway. She hadn’t heard him and shook her head. Of course, he could creep about the hallway like a cat when he chose to even though she generally associated him with brashness and hollering. She was conveniently ignoring the many times he leaned in to whisper something to her, sometimes a brusque order or times a more gentle suggestion.

“No, I’m fine,” she replied, acknowledging she was snapping at him and in this instance, he’d done nothing wrong. Yet.

“Let me,” he offered, standing closer than he needed to her while still a little too far from the metal cabinet to actually open it. She tried to jerk away a little, but it just made her skirts brush against his legs and he smiled at her.

“I don’t need your help. I can open it myself, thank you very much,” she declared.

“Well, then, I’ll just watch you and make sure nothing distracts you,” he said, the laughter clear in his voice.

Mary turned back to the metal cabinet and wished to herself she had never thought to lock up the morphine and quinine. At yet, it was partially to protect Jed from giving in to an impulse; she thought having to ask her for the key would be enough of an impediment to help him refrain from any further personal use. She tried to redirect her attention to the lock but to no avail. She couldn’t get it open and she scraped her already raw knuckles in the attempt, letting out a little cry. 

Jed leaned closer and took her injured hand in his, turning it to see the blood beading on her fair skin. With his other hand, he reached around her and fiddled with the lock, saying “I don’t think brute force is necssary, Mary—there’s a trick to it, you see.” The metal door sprang open then, as if the inanimate object was also taking Jed’s side. Mary scowled, just a little. Jed still held her right hand in his, lightly.

“Well, thank you,” she said, ungraciously she knew. He still held her hand and had somehow drawn even closer to her. She felt the warmth of him through his coat sleeve against her and somehow, she felt that same warmth throughout herself, her face flushing red as a rose. “It was very nice of you to help me,” she tried, seeking to relegate this moment to simple politeness.

“I don’t think so. I’m not a very nice man,” he replied, and brought her hand up to his mouth, blowing on her scraped fingers.

“Well, I like nice men,” she said, aware that the conversation was spinning out of control, dizzying, like the dark night full of stars, painting the sky when the new moon was out.

“That’s too bad, then.” He said and dropped her hand. “You should wrap that hand up. I’d be happy to help you. There’s a trick to that as well,” and he looked at her, looked at her with those dark eyes and she saw all he meant to say. She wrapped her hand around a cool vial of quinine and thought she might dose herself next. He brushed his hand against her forearm and then walked out of the supply closet.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my response to the "force" prompt that I somehow forgot to post here. Any good Star Wars fan will know the scene in Empire I am thinking of although I have mangled the elements a little. This would fit in the Mercy Street world after E3-E4.


End file.
